Economit Journal: Scientific Journal of Accountancy, Management and Finance

Synergizing Business, Digital Infrastructure, and Precision Resource Management for Agricultural Sustainability: A Quadruple-Helix Analysis Of Ethiopia's Emerging Agritech Ecosystem

2026-08-11T04:34:04+00:00

Ethiopia’s agricultural sector remains the backbone of the national economy, contributing approximately 40 percent of GDP, 80 percent of export earnings, and more than 75 percent of employment. The overwhelming majority of production is generated by more than 12 million smallholder farming households operating under predominantly rainfed conditions. This dual character, strategic economic importance combined with structural vulnerability, defines the country’s agricultural development challenges. Climate shocks, rainfall variability, land degradation, limited access to quality inputs, and fragmented value chains continue to constrain productivity and rural livelihoods. In response, successive national strategies have sought to modernize the sector. The Agricultural Development-Led Industrialization (ADLI) framework laid early foundations, while more recent initiatives under the Agricultural Transformation Institute and the Digital Ethiopia 2025 and 2030 agendas have elevated digital technologies as central instruments of change. Digital agriculture is increasingly viewed not merely as a set of tools but as a systemic enabler capable of improving advisory services, input delivery, market access, resource efficiency, and climate resilience. Realizing this potential, however, requires coordinated action beyond technology deployment alone. Effective transformation depends on synergistic collaboration among government, research institutions, private sector actors, and farmers themselves. This study situates Ethiopia’s digital agriculture transition within a quadruple-helix innovation framework, examining how these actors interact to generate scalable and sustainable outcomes. Understanding these dynamics is essential for converting policy ambition into measurable gains in productivity, equity, and environmental sustainability.

Harnessing ENSO Teleconnections for Six-Month Predictability of Tropical Humid Heat Stress and Its Cascading Impacts on Labour Productivity

2026-09-03T03:10:56+00:00

Tropical humid heat stress, measured through wet-bulb temperature (TW) and Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), represents a compound threat combining temperature and humidity effects that routinely pushes workers toward physiological limits. Unlike episodic heatwaves, humid heat operates as a persistent background condition constraining labour capacity and economic functioning across tropical economies. This study demonstrates that El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) teleconnections exert a dominant and predictable influence on tropical humid heat stress, with strong correlation indicating predictability up to six months in advance. Physics-based statistical models explain 80% of variance in tropical mean annual maximum wet-bulb temperature (TWmax), enabling seasonal forecasts that can inform adaptation planning across agriculture, construction, public health, energy, and supply chain management. The cascading impacts are substantial: fewer than 2018 baseline conditions, labour-capacity losses reached 9–11% across tropical economies, with sectoral losses approaching 17% in agriculture and construction. Indirect exposure transmitted through supply-chain linkages often exceeds direct sectoral losses, amplifying economy-wide consequences. The six-month predictability window offers an untapped opportunity for proactive adaptation, enabling anticipatory action rather than reactive crisis response. However, realizing this potential requires building institutional capacity, translating probabilistic forecasts into actionable guidance, and addressing the adaptation deficit in rapidly growing tropical populations. Harnessing ENSO teleconnections for seasonal prediction of humid heat stress represents a tangible pathway to reduce climate vulnerability, protect worker health and productivity, and build more resilient tropical economies in a warming world.